With history been written with the first African American president of the USA, the world looks out in hope to come out of the bad times that we are in. With recession setting in across the globe, it will be trying times for producers of fair trade merchandise across the world. The fair trade community looks at bated breath to the next steps that the president elect will take to pump up the sagging economy. Hopefully next month we will have something to cheer about in this column.

SuVyapar

Shared Earth began as a small shop in Goodramgate, York, UK in October 1986. Its founder, Jeremy Piercy, travelled to India after leaving school and wanted to do something to help redress the imbalance of wealth in the world, work together with people from different cultures, and at the same time earn a living. Fair Trade was the obvious answer and the original shop contained a wide mix of products from Asia, Africa and South America. Also high on the agenda was addressing environmental problems and the shop was an excellent way of making recycled and sustainable products available and publicising the issues.

Fair Trade gifts were in high demand so Shared Earth started introducing its own brand products, both for its shops and wholesale, initially with a range of recycled paper greetings cards, designed by a local artist. Soon T-shirts, writing sets and stationery items were being produced and the designs were then used to make Fair Trade pencils, windchimes and other gifts in Bali. Shared Earth also became the distributor for an excellent Fair Trade organisation in the Philippines, which specialises in handmade paper.

Its policy is to provide quality, design-led products, not just to those who are already aware of Fair Trade principles. At a time when global conflict seems also on the increase, Shared Earth's partnerships with producers are an invaluable way of building bridges, showing that people can work together for mutual benefit, no matter what their race, religion or culture.

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Minakari or Enamelling is the art of painting, colouring and ornamenting the surface of metals by fusing over it brilliant colours that are decorated in an intricate design. The Iranian invented the art of enamel or minawork metalcraft and Mughuls spreaded it to India and other countries. Gold has been used traditionally for minakari jewellery as it holds the enamel better, lasts longer and its lustre brings out the colours of the enamels. Silver, a later introduction, is used for artefacts like boxes, bowls, spoons, and art pieces while Copper which is used for handicraft products were introduced only after the Gold Control Act, which compelled the minakars to look for a material other than gold, was enforced around the world.

The minakars engrave the surface of the metal with intricate designs using a metal stylus which is then filled in with colours. The mina is then placed in a furnace where the colours fuse and harden to become one with the surface. Thereafter the piece is then gently rubbed with a file and cleaned with a mixture of lemon and tamarind that helps to highlight the lusture of each colour. Enamel colours are metal oxides mixed with a tint of finely powdered glass where the oxide content controls the shade obtained The colour yellow is obtained through the use of chromate of potash, violet through carbonate of manganese, blue through cobalt oxide, green through copper oxide, brown through red oxide, and black through manganese, iron, and cobalt. The brilliant red is the most difficult of colours to achieve. White and ivory, though difficult, are achieved through a mix of antinomies of potash, hydrated iron oxide, and carbonate of zinc. The colours are applied according to their level of hardness, beginning with the hardest. Before the enamel is applied, the surface of the ornament is carefully cleaned. In their raw form these mixtures do not always show their true colours, which emerge only when they are fired in the kiln. The average firing temperature is about 850 degrees celsius.